What This Handout is About…
This handout will explain what a Literature Review is and offer insights into the form and
construction of a Literature Review in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences.
Introduction
OK. You’ve got to write a literature review. te dust off your world literature
anthology book, settle down in your Ebert and Roper at the Film theatre chair with
your popcorn and soda in hand, and get ready to issue a “thumbs up” o “thumbs down”
as te leaf through the pages. “Literature Review” done. Right?
Wrong! The “literature” of a literature review refers to any collection of materials on a
topic, not necessarily the Great Literary Texts of the World. “Literature” could be
anything from a set of government pamphlets on British colonial methods in Africa to
scholarly articoli on the treatment of a torn ACL. And a review does not necessarily
mean that your reader wants te to give your personal opinion on whether o not te
liked these sources.
What is a literature review, then?
A literature review discusses published information in a particular subject area, and
sometimes information in a particular subject area within a certain time period.
A literature review can be just a simple summary of the sources, but it usually has an
organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis. A summary is a recap
of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, o a
reshuffling, of that information. It might give a new interpretation of old material o
combine new with old interpretations. o it might trace the intellectual progression of the
field, including major debates. And depending on the situation, the literature review may
evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent o relevant.
But how is a literature review different from an academic research
paper? While the main focus of an academic research paper is to support your own argument, the
focus of a literature review is to summarize and synthesize the arguments and ideas of
others. The academic research paper also covers a range of sources, but it is usually a
select number of sources, because the emphasis is on the argument. Likewise, a literature
review can also have an “argument,” but it is not as important as covering a number of
sources. In short, an academic research paper and a literature review contain some of the
same elements. In fact, many academic research papers will contain a literature review
section. But it is the aspect of the study (the argument o the sources) that is emphasized
that determines what type of document it is.
Why do we write literature reviews?
Literature reviews provide te with a handy guide to a particular topic. If te have
limited time to conduct research, literature reviews can give te an overview o act as a
stepping stone. For professionals, they are useful reports that keep them up to data with
what is current in the field. For scholars, the depth and breadth of the literature review
emphasizes the credibility of the writer in his o her field. Literature reviews also provide
a solid background for a research paper’s investigation. Comprehensive knowledge of
the literature of the field is essential to most research papers.
Who writes these things, anyway?
Literature reviews are written occasionally in the humanities, but mostly in the sciences
and social sciences; in experiment and lab reports, they constitute a section of the paper.
Sometimes a literature review is written as a paper in itself.
Let’s get to it! What should I do before Scrivere the literature review?
1. Clarify
If your assignment is not very specific, seek clarification from your instructor:
• Roughly how many sources should te include?
• What types of sources (books, journal articles, websites)?
• Should te summarize, synthesize, o critique your sources da discussing
a common theme o issue?
• Should te evaluate your sources?
• Should te provide subheadings and other background information, such
as definitions and/or a history?
2. Find modelle
Look for other literature reviews in your area of interest o in the discipline and read them
to get a sense of the types of themes te might want to look for in your own research o
ways to organize your final review. te can simply put the word “review” in your
cerca engine along with your other topic terms to find articoli of this type on the Internet o in an electronic database. The bibliography o reference section of sources you’ve
already read are also excellent entry points into your own research.
3. Narrow your topic
There are hundreds o even thousands of articoli and libri on most areas of study. The
narrower your topic, the easier it will be to the number of sources te need to read
in order to get a good survey of the material. Your instructor will probably not expect
te to read everything that’s out there on the topic, but you’ll make your job easier if te
first your scope.
And don’t forget to tap into your professor’s (or other professors’) knowledge in the
field. Ask your professor domande such as: “If te had to read only one book from the
70’s on topic X, what would it be?” domande such as this help te to find and
determine quickly the most seminal pieces in the field.
4. Consider whether your sources are current
Some disciplines require that te use information that is as current as possible. In the
sciences, for instance, treatments for medical problems are constantly changing according
to the latest studies. Information even two years old could be obsolete. However, if te
are Scrivere a review in the humanities, history, o social sciences, a survey of the history
of the literature may be what is needed, because what is important is how perspectives
have changed through the years o within a certain time period. Try sorting through some
other current bibliographies o literature reviews in the field to get a sense of what your
discipline expects. te can also use this method to consider what is “hot” and what is
not.
Strategies for Scrivere the Literature Review:
1. Find a focus
A literature review, like a term paper, is usually organized around ideas, not the sources
themselves as an annotated bibliography would be organized. This means that te will
not just simply lista your sources and go into detail about each one of them, one at a time.
No. As te read widely but selectively in your topic area, consider instead what themes
o issues connect your sources together. Do they present one o different solutions? Is
there an aspect of the field that is missing? How well do they present the material and do
they portray it according to an appropriate theory? Do they reveal a trend in the field? A
raging debate? Pick one of these themes to focus the organization of your review.
2. Construct a working thesis statement
Then use the focus you’ve found to construct a thesis statement. Yes! Literature reviews
have thesis statements as well! However, your thesis statement will not necessarily argue for a position o an opinion; rather it will argue for a particular perspective on the
material. Some sample thesis statements for literature reviews are as follows:
The current trend in treatment for congestive cuore failure combines surgery and
medicine.
più and più cultural studies scholars are accepting popolare media as a
subject worthy of academic consideration.
For più information on how to construct thesis statements, see our handout
link "Constructing Thesis Statements."
3. Consider organization
You’ve got a focus, and you’ve narrowed it down to a thesis statement. Now what is the
most effective way of presenting the information? What are the most important topics,
subtopics, etc., that your review needs to include? And in what order should te present
them? Develop an organization for your review at both a global and local level:
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First, cover the basic categories
Just like most academic papers, literature reviews also must contain at least three
basic elements: an introduction o background information section; the body of
the review containing the discussion of sources; and, finally, a conclusion and/or
recommendations section to end the paper.
Introduction: Gives a quick idea of the topic of the literature review, such
as the central theme o organizational pattern.
Body: Contains your discussion of sources and is organized either
chronologically, thematically, o methodologically (see below for più
information on each).
Conclusions/Recommendations: Discuss what te have drawn from
reviewing literature so far. Where might the discussion proceed?
Once te have these in place, then te must consider how te will present the
sources themselves within the body of your paper. Create an organizational
method to focus this section even further.
To help te come up with an complessivamente, generale organizational framework for your review,
consider the following scenario and then three typical ways of organizing the
sources into a review:
You’ve decided to focus your literature review on materials dealing with sperm
whales. This is because you’ve just finished Leggere Moby Dick, and te wonder if that whale’s portrayal is really real. te start with some articoli about the
physiology of sperm whales in biology journals written in the 1980’s. But these
articoli refer to some British biological studies performed on whales in the early
18th century. So te check those out. Then te look up a book written in 1968
with information on how sperm whales have been portrayed in other forms of art,
such as in Alaskan poetry, in French painting, o on balena bone, as the balena
hunters in the late 19th century used to do. This makes te wonder about
American whaling methods during the time portrayed in Moby Dick, so te find
some academic articoli published in the last five years on how accurately Herman
Melville portrayed the whaling scene in his novel.
Chronological:
If your review follows the chronological method, te could write about the
materials above according to when they were published. For instance, first te
would talk about the British biological studies of the 18th century, then about
Moby Dick, published in 1851, then the book on sperm whales in other art (1968),
and finally the biology articoli (1980s) and the recente articoli on American
whaling of the 19th century. But there is relatively no continuity among subjects
here. And notice that even though the sources on sperm whales in other art and
on American whaling are written recently, they are about other subjects/objects
that were created much earlier. Thus, the review loses its chronological focus.
da Publication
Order your sources da publication chronology, then, only if the order
demonstrates a più important trend. For instance, te could order a
review of literature on biological studies of sperm whales if the
progression revealed a change in dissection practices of the researchers
who wrote and/or conducted the studies.
da Trend
A better way to organize the above sources chronologically is to examine
the sources under another trend, such as the history of whaling. Then your
review would have subsections according to eras within this period. For
instance, the review might examine whaling from pre-1600-1699, 1700-
1799, and 1800-1899. Under this method, te would combine the recente
studies on American whaling in the 19th century with Moby Dick itself in
the 1800-1899 category, even though the authors wrote a century apart.
Thematic:
Thematic reviews of literature are organized around a topic o issue, rather than
the progression of time. However, progression of time may still be an important
factor in a thematic review. For instance, the sperm balena review could focus on
the development of the harpoon for balena hunting. While the study focuses on
one topic, harpoon technology, it will still be organized chronologically. The only difference here between a “chronological” and a “thematic” approach is what
is emphasized the most: the development of the harpoon o the harpoon
technology.
But più authentic thematic reviews tend to break away from chronological
order. For instance, a thematic review of material on sperm whales might
examine how they are portrayed as “evil” in cultural documents. The subsections
might include how they are personified, how their proportions are exaggerated,
and their behaviors misunderstood. A review organized in this manner would
shift between time periods within each section according to the point made.
Methodological:
A methodological approach differs from the two above in that the focusing factor
usually does not have to do with the content of the material. Instead, it focuses on
the “methods” of the researcher o writer. For the sperm balena project, one
methodological approach would be to look at cultural differences between the
portrayal of whales in American, British, and French art work. o the review
might focus on the economic impact of whaling on a community. A
methodological scope will influence either the types of documents in the review
o the way in which these documents are discussed.
Once you’ve decided on the organizational method for the body of the review, the
sections te need to include in the paper should be easy to figure out. They should arise
out of your organizational strategy. In other words, a chronological review would have
subsections for each vital time period. A thematic review would have subtopics based
upon factors that relate to the theme o issue.
Sometimes, though, te might need to add additional sections that are necessary for your
study, but do not fit in the organizational strategy of the body. What other sections te
include in the body is up to you. Put in only what is necessary. Here are a few other
sections te might want to consider:
Current Situation: Information necessary to understand the topic o focus of the
literature review.
History: The chronological progression of the field, the literature, o an idea that
is necessary to understand the literature review, if the body of the literature review
is not already a chronology.
Methods and/or Standards: The criteria te used to select the sources in your
literature review o the way in which te present your information. For instance,
te might explain that your review includes only peer-reviewed articoli and
journals. domande for Further Research: What domande about the field has the review
sparked? How will te further your research as a result of the review?
4. Begin composition
Once you’ve settled on a general pattern of organization, you’re ready to write each
section. There are a few guidelines te should follow during the Scrivere stage as well.
Here is a sample paragraph from a literature review about sexism and language to
illuminate the following discussion:
However, other studies have shown that even gender-neutral antecedents are più likely
to produce masculine immagini than feminine ones (Gastil, 1990). Hamilton (1988) asked
students to complete sentences that required them to fill in pronouns that agreed with
gender-neutral antecedents such as "writer," "pedestrian," and "persons." The students
were asked to describe any image they had when Scrivere the sentence. Hamilton found
that people imagined 3.3 men to each woman in the masculine "generic" condition and
1.5 men per woman in the unbiased condition. Thus, while ambient sexism accounted for
some of the masculine bias, sexist language amplified the effect. (Source: Erika Falk and
Jordan Mills, “Why Sexist Language Affects Persuasion: The Role of Homophily,
Intended Audience, and Offense,” Women and Language19:2.
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Use evidence
In the example above, the writers refer to several other sources when making their
point. A literature review in this sense is just like any other academic research
paper. Your interpretation of the available sources must be backed up with
evidence to mostra that what te are saying is valid.
Be selective
Select only the most important points in each fonte to highlight in the review.
The type of information te choose to mention should relate directly to the
review’s focus, whether it is thematic, methodological, o chronological.
Use Citazioni sparingly
Falk and Mills do not use any direct quotes. That is because the survey nature of
the literature review does not allow for in-depth discussion o detailed Citazioni
from the text. Some short Citazioni here and there are okay, though, if te want to
emphasize a point, o if what the autore detto just cannot be rewritten in your own
words. Notice that Falk and Mills do quote certain terms that were coined da the
author, not common knowledge, o taken directly from the study. But if te find
yourself wanting to put in più quotes, check with your instructor.
Summarize and synthesize
Remember to summarize and synthesize your sources within each paragraph as
well as throughout the review. The authors here recapitulate important features of
Hamilton’s study, but then synthesize it da rephrasing the study’s significance and
relating it to their own work. •
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Keep your own voice
While the literature review presents others’ ideas, your voice (the writer’s) should
remain front and center. Notice that Falk and Mills weave references to other
sources into their own text, but they still maintain their own voice da starting and
ending the paragraph with their own ideas and their own words. The sources
support what Falk and Mills are saying.
Use caution when paraphrasing
When paraphrasing a fonte that is not your own, be sure to represent the author’s
information o opinions accurately and in your own words. In the preceding
example, Falk and Mills either directly refer in the text to the autore of their
source, such as Hamilton, o they provide ample notation in the text when the
ideas they are mentioning are not their own, for example, Gastil’s. For più
information, please see our handout on plagiarism:
link.
5. Revise, revise, revise
Draft in hand? Now you’re ready to revise. Spending a lot of time revising is a wise
idea, because your main objective is to present the material, not the argument. So check
over your review again to make sure it follows the assignment and/or your outline. Then,
just as te would for most other academic forms of writing, rewrite o rework the
language of your review so that you’ve presented your information in the most concise
manner possible. Be sure to use terminology familiar to your audience; get rid of
unnecessary jargon o slang. Finally, double check that you’ve documented your sources
and formatted the review appropriately for your discipline. For tips on the revising and
editing process, see our handout Straight Talk about Revision:
link.